The main focus of
the usability testing was to observe users and note any difficulty or
confusion that they seemed to experience while using the site for basic
tasks. In addition, time measurements were taken at two points during
each task:
- The approximate
time when the user reached the primary relevant page:
- for task 1: IS250 comment page
- for task 2: IS213 or similar comment page
- for task 3: IS206 rating page
- Time when user
indicated they had completed the task
The following table
shows the times recorded (minutes:seconds):
| ID
number |
Task
1 |
Task
2 |
Task
3 |
| Found
page |
Finished
task |
Found
page |
Finished
task |
Found
page |
Finished
task |
|
1
|
1:35
|
3:28
|
0:19
|
3:43
|
0:20
|
2:45
|
|
2
|
0:40
|
1:45
|
0:35
|
1:40
|
0:07
|
2:10
|
|
3
|
1:25
|
1:43
|
0:32
|
0:42
|
0:21
|
1:21
|
|
4
|
2:02
|
2:46
|
1:17
|
1:28
|
0:27
|
3:14
|
In this small sample,
timing varied considerably for all tasks. In part, this reflects the
fact that some users spent more time exploring the interface and reading
the content than others. There was also one case (user 3), where the
user was erroneously given an invalid login name, resulting in some
delay in performance of the first task. Despite the variation, the overall
impression is that users were able to perform these tasks easily and
rapidly.